The Polish government is to “forgive and forget” citizens who broke the law by signing up for the Ukrainian armed forces to fight Russia, but will impose a duty on returning soldiers to debrief the Polish government on what they saw and experienced.
Poles who secretly travelled to Ukraine to volunteer for their army to help fight the Russian invasion, which is technically against the law in Poland, are to be given legal cover for the duration of the war, Warsaw says. Attempts were made to pass an exemption for Ukrainian war service in 2022 but stumbled upon parliamentary procedure, but a new attempt to pass the new law are expected to succeed in the coming weeks, Polish newspaper of record Rzeczpospolita reports.
Like most European countries, in Poland it is forbidden for citizens to enlist in foreign militaries, with punishments for citizens who fight without permission of the government ranging up to five years in prison. Nevertheless, it is stated as many as “several hundred” Poles are known to have signed up in Kyiv, although given the clandestine nature of service the threatened punishment invites, the true number fighting is unknown.
Per the report, there have even been instances of Poles registered missing with police by their families who turned up months later in Ukrainian government recruitment videos on social media. No actual convictions have taken place yet as Poland’s national prosecutor is understood to be turning a blind eye, but the “forgive and forget” law would allow Ukraine veterans to come home without fear of prison.
It is thought Poles have signed up in Ukraine are doing so for reasons including an opposition to Russia and for money as mercenaries, as well as members of the small ethnic Ukrainian minority in Poland. It is not yet clear whether the bill will cover foreign service in Ukraine going back to 2022 or 2014, the beginnings of the two phases of Russia’s invasion. Foreign military service will remain illegal for all other countries.
Prawo states while the bill introduces an amnesty, it also introduces a new duty on Poles to immediately declare their Ukrainian service to the Polish government. This debrief will include their dates of service and a potentially detailed account of what they did and where. The publisher states this will be of interest to the Polish security and military intelligence agencies who want to learn about “the Ukrainian armed forces’ tactics and recruitment techniques”, and to counter “foreign intelligence activity, terrorism, sabotage, and subversion.”
The United Kingdom has similar laws to Poland barring its citizens from signing up to foreign militaries, which led to a minor political scandal in 2022 when the government, flushed with pro-Kyiv enthusiasm in the early days of the war, said it would support Britons fighting for Ukraine. This advice was quickly withdrawn when the fact this was completely illegal was made clear, and the government instead encouraged the pubic to support Ukraine in other ways, such as by raising money.
Nevertheless, some Britons did travel to Ukraine and signed up to fight. Several former British Army soldiers who signed up to fight for Kyiv have been captured by Russia and sentenced to up to 19 years in prison on anti-mercenary charges. The British government criticises the sentences, saying the Britons should be treated as ordinary prisoners of war and accorded their rights. In another case a British citizen — also a former member of the British Army — was arrested in Ukraine and charged with spying on behalf of Russia.
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